Multilined String in PHP

Multilined string in PHP can be written in many different ways to have your codes look clean and neat.

Method 1: You can break the lines into multiple strings on multiple lines using a period in front of the assignment sign in order to concatenate them.

Usage:
$st  = “This is the book”;
$st .= ” that I really like to read in my spare time.”;
$st .= ” I bring it with me while I’m traveling this summer.”;

Method 2: Use excerpt sign and close it at the end of all the lines. You must write exact same name as you previously defined it.

Usage:
$st = <<<STOPHERE
<p>This is the book
that I really like to read in my spare time. I bring it with me while I’m traveling this summer.</p>
STOPHERE;

Find the location of a file

__FILE__ is a built-in php global variable that you can use to get the location of a file that’s executing.

Usage: echo __FILE__;

Result (Linux): /var/www/html/my-domain.com/TestDir/setExpiredDate.php

(Windows): C:\Documents and Settings\myname\My Documents\www\TestDir\setExpiredDate.php

Using backslash when echo quotation marks

Sometimes you’ll see quotation marks in a string that represent exact language that has come from somebody else. The quotation mark is also used to designate speech acts in fiction and poetry. For example: Mr. Douglas, who was working in his field that morning, said, “The alien spaceship appeared right before my own eyes.”

In this case, if you want to echo this string out on a php page, you will have to add a backslash in front of each quotation mark to ensure that it will appear on the html page.

echo "<P>Mr. Douglas, who was working in his field that morning, said, \”The alien spaceship appeared right before my own eyes.\”</P>";

Apache Variables

After installing Apache and PHP server, you can check the Apache variables by using a php page to echo them on the browser. If you need to modify the Apache config to adapt your server environment and to meet your needs, you can always change the .conf file and restart your Apache server.

Use the Apache variables below to check your server:

DOCUMENT_ROOT Document root
HTTP_ACCEPT Accept header of an HTTP request
HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING Accepted encoding (deflate or gzip)
HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE Accept-Language from HTTP header
HTTP_CONNECTION Connection header of the HTTP request
HTTP_HOST Internet host
HTTP_USER_AGENT Client initiating web request
PATH Directories the server looks
REMOTE_ADDR Address of the client
REMOTE_PORT Port of client
SCRIPT_FILENAME Absolute path of script
SERVER_ADDR Server’s address
SERVER_ADMIN Admin of server
SERVER_NAME Server name set
SERVER_PORT Port the web server is running on
SERVER_SIGNATURE Version of the server software
SERVER_SOFTWARE Server’s identification string, found in HTTP header
GATEWAY_INTERFACE Version of the CGI spec used
SERVER_PROTOCOL Protocol server is currently using
REQUEST_METHOD Request method, such as GET, PUT, POST, etc.
QUERY_STRING Query string if one exists
REQUEST_URI Uniform Resource Identifier
SCRIPT_NAME Path and name for the current script
PATH_TRANSLATED Absolute path on the web server’s file system
PHP_SELF Location of PHP script relative to document root

Apache + PHP installation error: The specified module could not be found.\r\n in Unknown on line 0

Common Apache error: “PHP Warning:  PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library ‘C:\\php5\\ext\\php_pdo_mysql” in the Apache log file (C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\logs\error.log).

I just installed Apache and Tomcat servers on my new laptop in order to run php and java at the same time; however I ran into an issue with MySQL database connection when I execute a php page.  There’re a few things that you can try to make your server work properly.

First: check php.ini file to make sure that you have extension_dir = “C:\php5\ext”.

Second: go to php directory, copy the libmysql.dll file and paste it to Apache bin directory. Remember not to remove it from php directory. Then restart your server to take effect.